Guild Wars 2

Hammer 1 is fine.

Hammer 2 was buffed. Used to be a standstill move, now has a leap range component, and doesn’t seem to get interrupted on movement (moving used to cancel it and still blow the cooldown).

Hammer 3 is fine, locks down your enemy.

Hammer 4 is awesome, but I wish it was either instant or had better targeting, it misses way too often for me.

Hammer 5 is nice, but I would like to see either a damage or condition component (maybe burning during the duration or vulnerability and/or weakness within the ring. I don’t think I’d like to see it merged with Purging Flames.

Tobeyeus.9376:

If you enjoy Hammer why not switch to Greatsword? It gets a leap, symbol, cripple/pull and excellent Whirl combo.

Mace I felt gave extra survivability while leveling but Sword allowed for faster kills which was better. Kill slower and live longer… or kill faster and not need to live longer. Faster kills means more XP.

I do switch hammer for GS sometimes, and it’s nice, but again, I like to play defensively, I just enjoy a tanky style of play.

My favorite trick with GS is to pull mobs to me with 5, whirl, then switch to mace and immediately hit 3 to block and AoE counter.

That said, I’m just not feeling GS right now. Between the skill slot changes and just general mehness of the spin and mow style (to me, opinion, of course), I’m just looking to try something different, and I haven’t done sword and board much. I like to change around my weapons and slots every now and again to be sure I’m fresh on my skills and hopefully learn some new tricks now and again.

I’ve been running mace+focus and hammer for a long time (15+ levels) and was thinking of swapping hammer out for sword and board. Can anyone provide info on how well this would work out, or if I should bother? Honestly, sword gameplay is a bit alien to me on the guardian, I’ve been playing defensively for a long time and I know sword is more damage geared, though I’d appreciate the mobility of the teleport to free up a utility slot from Judge’s Intervention, as mace and hammer aren’t particularly mobile.

Any thoughts?

I feel that P/P is weak, but by design, because with skill 4 and 5 it has powerful control options. I used to go P/P and spam skill 3, but the power in it is actually in utilizing skill 5 for a pretty much indefinite blind against a single target, plus a daze/interrupt on 4. That means P/P is giving you a strong survival boost in exchange for damage potential.

I don’t use this weapon combo much anymore though, I currently run D/D and P/D.

I like Dagger + Pistol, as you still get a powerful stealth ability, but no need to maneuver behind your enemy.

I do dagger/dagger and dagger/pistol. Basically just Cloak and Dagger to stealth and murder things.

One cool thing you can do to get instant stealth and close range is to hit CnD and then steal while the cast bar is up. You’ll teleport to mob and steal, then immediately CnD will go off and stealth you, setting up a powerful cloaked attack.

Phoenix the One.4071:

Is it allowed to use a controller to play gw2? (hardware like ps3 or xbox controller)
Tink it requires a mod or a file.
I would like to know this just so I can try it out, I feel that the combat is a bit stiff as it is:) yeah you can dodge, but feel a bit clumsy:)

Controller use is allowed.

See here:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Question-for-Anet-regarding-Xbox-360-controller-use/first#post238912

Also, I configured a fairly good XPadder setup for controller use you can find here:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/XBox360-controller-mapping-for-Guild-Wars-2-Enjoy/first#post262852

AFK in skrittsbhurg.

I like what you’ve done here. I did make some changes that are more suited to my playstyle though (moved 10 from deadly arts to trickery, with caltrop dodge, swapped the blind utility for shadow refuge).

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#MzkzzMz0MlvFoMlvnoaxG0acoaboRc

I find I like gun/dagger + dagger/dagger, hence the changes. Granted, I’m not much of a PvPer, I feel this would be more suited for PvE. I’m also inclined to take Thieves Guild over dagger storm due to preferring gun and some range, but that’s up for debate.

Edit – I take it back. After using it for a while, Blinding powder is freaking amazing.

I’d like to be able to review my pets in the sorting window without actually needing to slot it and set it to active. I shouldn’t need to take a 20 second cooldown to simply check if I want to actively slot a different pet, particularly outside of combat.

How does one spam Death Blossom? It’s pretty expensive, as far as initiative is concerned.

I’m dagger/dagger and pistol/pistol.

I have bloodlust on main weapons, with geomancy on the dagger offhand and hydromancy offhand on the gun for if I switch at close range.

Mostly I play avoidance. Currently using withdraw, roll for initiative, and the initiative regen signet (+1 every 10 seconds).

I definitely want caltrops on dodge, and tend to just mow away with gun #3, use gun #5 and dagger 4 when fighting groups and champs, and switch to daggers 1 and 3 when they get close, adding bleed on the switch.

Against melee, I tend to kite with dagger #4 and just run circles around them. I really like boosting initiative and using active skills rather than auto attack. I also have the +3 initiative on steal.

I almost never bother to stealth, though I should probably learn to use it more efficiently. I just find you don’t get a lot of stealth time, and it doesn’t help much in PvE from what I’ve seen.

I don’t PvP, but if the thief vanishes, wouldn’t your best bet to be to set a trap and stand on it? Then if it triggers, you know you should dodge and get away.

Sorry, wish I could help with that but I’m a text kind of guy. I’m sure if you search Youtube you’ll find some decent ranger videos. Look for PvP videos, as those will probably be making full use of their skill set in a more strategic environment.

I understand I need to be behind the enemy, but do I need to be stealthed? I can never get it to trigger, it’s always the double blade attack combo instead.

I’m struggling with what utilities to take for good synergy with guns and daggers.

Currently using the one that gives +1 Initiative every 10 and the dodge that boosts initiative. Any ideas?

Also, is one heal better overall, or are they generally situational?

Thanks!

Mongo.2490:

Worked great with every class.

Haven’t tried it with an engineer.

:-/

I love the concept of using a gamepad for action-oriented games where cursor aiming is not important, but the control you get with a mouse I feel surpasses the (admittedly amazing) button functionality of a gamepad.

There are benefits. For me specifically, it’s because I don’t have an ergonomic desktop setup and I suffer from RSI related issues over long gaming sessions. I don’t have this issue with the controller. Personal comfort is more important to me than 100% optimal play.

However, with melee classes and setups without ground targeting, I find my reaction times are actually better with the controller than with KB+M. Since I tend toward “tank” and melee classes, this is good for me, YMMV.

Kindstrike.1962:

Mongo.2490:

Yeah, took me a bit to figure that one out. But setting a trigger button to change the function of one of your joysticks from mouselook to cursor fixed that for me.

So you can’t turn the camera and target the ground at the same time? I’m trying to imagine how awful this would be for a grenade oriented engineer…

Haven’t tried it with an engineer. I think you are right. It would be difficult.
Not impossible, but more trouble than its worth.
You would have to juggle the toggle to switch between mouselook and cursor. Can be done, but would it be worth it? lol. Maybe to some.

Agreed, even with my own setup it sucks for grenade engineer. I’ve found it best for Guardian, Warrior, Ranger, Dagger Elementalist, and Thief. For Thief particularly the bow skills groudn targeting don’t seem to be an issue, probably because the fields are so big, they’re easier to aim.

The issue with Engineer I’ve found isn’t the ground targeting itself, but rather the way you need to quickly lead your targets, due to the delay in selecting the target and the animation for throwing the grenades, it takes about a second or two for the ’nades to land and explode, so you need some really, really fast lead targeting.

Mongo.2490:

Camera movement as well as ground-targeted abilities have kept me from trying controller.

These are both implemented in my configuration. I’ll admit, ground targeting is not as simple as I’d like with the controller, but it’s doable. Camera movement is working fine though.

Smackjack.5071:

Tomkatt.1684:

I can help with this.

Everything you need is in the document.

uhm yeah thats great tomcat but kindstrikes thread is about a ps3 , he supplied all there is needed to know for that specific pad already.

Motioninjoy drivers make the PS3 controller emulate a 360 controller. I’m actually using a PS3 controller with my setup.

I can help with this.

Everything you need is in the document. For those curious, mouse turning is implemented, it’s not key turning.

Also, this is for a 360 controller, but can be used with a PS2 or PS3 controller with the MotioninJoy drivers.

Delsaber.1562:

great stuff thanks mate. Gonna check this out tonight.

and also I dont see how this could be bannable as I have friends that use Nagas and they have a tonne of buttons that can be assigned. This is just like that really.

Just a heads up, read the reference document. All the keybindings are in there, and there are two profiles, one for people with standard controls, and another (my own setup) that has inverted camera for people who prefer the inverted Y-Axis (think flight sim controls).

Also, there have been some recent updates that I haven’t had the time to add. I’ve currently got autorun on LB+A on set 3 and map zoom (- and = keys) on LB+back and start. These aren’t set up in the profile, but are easily added.

Lastly, a few options (such as quickturn) are implemented but not mapped by default, they need to be set in your in-game bindings.

You’re not wrong about Renewed justice, but AFAIK, you can’t take that trait prior to level 40, due to being locked at 10 points per trait.

Trungalung.7850:

10/15/0/0/5 + Greatsword = plowing through stuffs in solo PvE. A good offense is the best defense, ie: kill it so fast that they can barely land any hit on you.

That’s only 100 power and 150 precision, not a whole lot by that level. Plus, sub-40, you can’t put 15 points in anything, it’s capped at 10. That ten points in Vitality would give you 1000 HP, and you could take some toughness to boot and improve your survivability by a long stride. I’m pretty sure that at below level 40, 100 power will probably be around 10-15% of your attack power, but 1000 HP is probably a 20% or more boost to your health pool.

I agree with you on 5 in virtues though, that’s a must for just about any build. Even the 10 in power for the burning aegis is good, I just don’t agree on the points in precision.

akamon.2769:

+1 to having “Retreat!”. keep mixing up your skills. i’ve tend to stick to a few, as well as weapon sets but you’ll find what works for you soon : ))))

My bar is pretty much always:

Utility 1: Judge’s Intervention
Utility 2: “Retreat!”

Utility 3 is on rotation, but is usually either “Hold the Line!” or Purging Flames, depending on the scenario.

I don’t know if it will work with a Wii controller. XPadder is designed for Xbox 360 controller emulation. Only works with a 360 controller or a PS3 controller if you use the MotioninJoy drivers to emulate it.

But yes, it’s been confirmed that using a controller is not bannable.

I haven’t experienced missing lines, but some of the Priory lines in the Norn quests prior to choosing your order have text lines and voice over that don’t match.

Any race should be fine, but currently due to a bug with Sanctuary, Norn and Charr are best. Sanctuary is currently bugged and the bubble and knockback range is affected by character size.

I wouldn’t really factor racial abilities, they don’t matter, and none are powerful enough to sway the decision.

Sairenkao.6485:

Lumines.3916:

10 Honor, shouts -20% recharge. Fill your bar with shouts and go to town with Greatsword/Sword/Focus.

I agree with this. And by shouts, I strongly suggest Save Yourselves! and Hold the Line!.

“Retreat!” is where it’s at.

Only activated when it is removed prematurely by being struck (blocking) by an attack, spell, melee, or ranged.

It doesn’t activate when expiring via timer.

I almost never use longbow, primarily shortbow and greatsword.

Tactically speaking, I’m fond of the trait that gives quickness for 2 seconds when pet swapping combined with the 4 second quickness signet and a shortbow.

Shortbow 1 skill is ridiculous with 6 seconds of quickness via pet swap and signet.

As for swapping your pet, the only thing you need to know is to swap it before it dies or you suffer a cooldown penalty. Also, be careful swapping your pet in a melee scenario, as if you have a bear, it may have threat and when you swap, the mob is going to turn and wail on you. Sucks when fighting a champion.

Do you have specific questions?

Sozai.4071:

What up with the word kitten lately? Was there some meme I missed. Every thread I read there’s some dude randomly throwing the word kitten anywhere they feel like.

It’s what the swear filter translates words to. I think some users are just adding “kitten” instead anyway.

Gotcha, thanks for the info.

Does Circle of Life (Nature Magic 10 point #1 trait) affect you in your down state to get you up sooner? Will the ground regen effect get you more health regen in down state, or is this just to help allies?

Thanks!

Am I the only person who likes Renewed Focus? With an Aegis and burn heavy build it is ridiculously nice. Plus 3 seconds channeled invulnerability is great against a big boss attack, and you can blow your virtues beforehand to help your allies. Combined with Mace+focus and “Retreat!” you can keep up block and invulnerability practically forever.

The teleport only works if you have a target, and if you have a clear path to that target, in my experience.

If you have nothing targeted it will do the flame blast in place, and if there’s an obstruction between you and your target, it will stop at the obstruction and do the flame blast there.

Lilianna, won’t that prevent you from joining an actual guild?

Just switch them from your contact list to your block list. That way you can still track but it won’t appear suspicious.

aaronjreeves.3714:

So them the Combat Mode mod would be allowed if it didnt have a crosshair? Because thats the only difference between it and a controller application. Their both 3rd party software and emulates key presses.

Dunno, maybe? As far as I know the problem with Combat Mode was that it altered the in-game interface, so counted as a mod instead of an outside 3rd party app.

Regarding botting and reporting botters, it has proven difficult to do so. In a previous thread on the subject a moderator stated that bots need to be reported individually via the in-game reporting tool. However, I’ve found this difficult to do, as the most egregious offenses I’ve seen have been multiple bots abusing exploits to teleport on the game map, making targeting them to report difficult, if not impossible, as when they teleport they become untargeted again, and they are teleporting around often at a rate of every 2 or 3 seconds at times.

I’ve done my best to report them individually, but it’s difficult to individually report 8+ botters who teleport before you can right click their profile to report.

Just a heads up on the issue, and probably hence the original post’s “bot frustration.”

Jnaathra, thanks for that, that answers the question. I didn’t realize Anet had already responded regarding this.

wollie.9751:

I don’t see how using a game pad is any different than using a razr naga or anything.

That’s what I figure as well. I assume the problem with the Combat Mode is that it’s an actual mod in the sense that it adds a GUI overlay and makes changes that affect gameplay outside the normal control scheme, and that it allows for scripting. I don’t think that’s an issue with setting up a controller profile. However, I’m still hoping for an official response from Arenanet if they can provide it.

Given the recent response regarding “Combat Mode” for Guild Wars 2 (found here), I wanted to find out what the consensus is with using something like Pinnacle or XPadder to map the controls to a gamepad.

I don’t think this grants an advantage, as ground targeting is difficult at best, but I have wrist issues and find it uncomfortable and sometimes painful to game on a keyboard and mouse for long periods of time. Using the controller allows me to play more comfortably due to RSI related problems.

If using a gamepad is bannable, I need to know, and if so will just have to play less to prevent discomfort (which would suck, I love this game, but what can you do?).

If needed for review, I posted my gamepad configuration here.

Thanks!

I rezzed them all before the final wave and used them as brief, but useful meatshields. Mostly I found myself dodging back and forth and kept all three mobs on one side of me so I couldn’t be surrounded.

I don’t get the complaint that there’s no room to dodge. The enemies were melee, dodging from the top down to the ground would force them to chase you the long way while you can cast spells and regen a bit (the spells don’t need to hit anything to regen you with the signet). It’s an ideal kiting scenario if you want to play it that way.

It’s a tactical fight, you just have to play it smart.

Not sure why I can’t edit my previous post, only have the permalink icon, but I wanted to add that at this point you have 3 utility skills and you can respec your traits if needed. Have you traited toughness or vitality? Ideally you could be using the signet that heals you every time you cast a spell and using the arcane shield with the signet that increases your crit for more damage. I can’t understand how you’re getting dropped so fast you can barely get a hit off, it sounds like you spec’d for pure power without taking survivability into account.

I’m pretty disappointed by this difficulty nerf. This was actually fun and challenging content, and I enjoyed fighting the three veterans on my ranger at the level (24).

Tokyoshoe, what setup were you using to fight these? A dagger elementalist would have been ideal for the close range combat, starting with Earth skills 5 and 4 to AoE bleed and to nuke with fire attunement. After that you could use lightning for control and then water, and back to earth or fire after that.

This should be very doable on an elementalist, and I’d like to know why you’d believe this would still be difficult even after the changes. The only way I could see this being difficult is if you’re adamant about using a staff in close quarters; if that’s the case then yeah, you’d have a problem.

Claiming other classes are overpowered isn’t proof that the story mission needs to be nerfed to the ground.

Kalian.5386:

I recently bought my own xbox 360 controller, and after using my own configuration for a day I tried this, which I’ve been using this week. It is great, thank you! I have modified a few things though; changed the crude dpad movement to TP, Hero, Inventory, and Esc buttons, and added autorun. I do seem to be having issues with using the 3rd set to show all NPC / friendly names. I’m not sure the exact combo of buttons but it seems to get stuck on that profile and won’t go back unless I alt tab out of the game and click on the 1st default set.

Edit: upon futher testing out of game it seems that when in the 3rd set, hitting Alt + Ctrl and then moving the right trigger resets to the 2nd set, instead of the 1st, without a way to get back. Any way to fix this?

I’m assuming you’re the same person who commented on the reddit post. Check set 2, and if dodge is mapped on LB, remove the mapping. This should fix it. That mapping shouldn’t have been there, it was from an earlier configuration and I forgot to remove it before posting the profile.

Vinn Treyus, with his trusted friend and companion, Lord Bear the Great.

BigCisHere.4076:

I’ve considered trying other weapons, especially the melee side of the Ranger. I haven’t even equipped a Greatsword yet since I made the character. I’ve considered trying out 1H Sword + Warhorn/Torch, but I find little reason to so far.

1H Sword+Warhorn synergize well together. I find Torch is better with Axes due to skill 5 comboing for burning projectile axes, and 4 also being a ranged skill.

Greatsword works well as a melee secondary for any ranged main set, and has a good closer and counterattack skill. Also skill 2 has a nice bleed. I know people say Greatsword is underpowered, but I’ve found as long as you have a green quality one within a few levels of your current level it’s a good option.

I want to love 1H sword, but the 1 skill chain being uncancelable kills it for me a bit so I usually go Greatsword now for melee.

BigCisHere.4076:

Personally, I have both a Longbow and a Shortbow equipped on my Ranger as I level.

Curious, how does this work out for you? I find for ranged play I’ll alternate between bow and axe+torch depending on if I need damage on multiple mobs or just single target, but I never really considered two single target weapons. For me it’s Longbow OR Shortbow, generally, and usually shortbow due to my playstyle (I prefer to be closer and use dodging and circle kiting, faster play on shortbow works for this for me).